Ladies, let’s just be honest right here at the beginning: being a Mom is by far the hardest, most demanding job we will ever have. It is also the single most important job we will ever have. There are sleepless nights, days you want to pull every last hair out, times you sit in the car and cry because you feel like such a failure, and times that you feel like the meanest person in the world.
But, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, I wanted to remind myself of some of the ways I am certainly blessed to be a Mom. I hope that you can relate as well:
Just having my daughter is a blessing. I have friends who have tried for years and been unable, and friends who have experienced the grief of a miscarriage. So, on days that are seemingly unending and frustrating, I remind myself that just having those frustrating days is a blessing in itself. I am thankful for her.
She is healthy, and thriving. I am thankful each and every day that she loves to learn, and that she is healthy. And although learning and being healthy means she is inevitably growing up much faster than I am ready for, she IS healthy, and growing. Some days, watching her read and write is more than I can take because I remember her as that tiny baby in a crib not so long ago. But, I am thankful I get to watch her grow up.
I am thankful that she can talk to me. Yes, sometimes that can be a curse, but hear me out on this one: my daughter is six, and she can tell me all about her day. The good, the bad, what frustrated her, etc. She tells me what she is afraid of, what excites her, and she asks questions about things she wants to understand. I am thankful for having open communication with her each and every day, even if some days we don’t really like what the other has to say.
I am thankful for her unconditional love. She has taught me so much about how easy it is to love without reservation. Not just with me, but with her other family and friends, as well. She has the most beautiful and forgiving heart of anyone I know. I am so thankful for that especially in the society we live in now.
Her enthusiasm for discovering new things is so inspiring to me. She pushes me each day to think outside my little box. To think outside of the 40 hour work week, the homework, the laundry, the ROUTINE of life. When she stops in the middle of playing outside to pick a flower, and her little eyes light up — such a simple thing, mundane to most of us, but new to her. I am thankful for her genuine enthusiasm of anything new coming into her world.
I am thankful for how she has changed my life. When I think back to the days before she came along — the days of the week were spent living for the weekend plans, the nights were late, the mornings were sometimes difficult, and my world simply revolved around me. Now, my weeks are still spent living for weekend plans — plans to go to Dollywood, or shopping, or ice cream, or play dates, or trips…with her. Nights are still late, sometimes doing laundry, or because she is sick. Mornings are still difficult at times, but not because of being out socializing into the wee hours, but because my sleepy girl just wants to cuddle rather than get ready for school.
My world now revolves around her — what I can do to see her smile, to help her become a good person to be around, to teach her not only the good stuff I know, but to let her know that if she does something bad, I’m still going to love her, and we will get through it. I am SO thankful for her, and how she has changed my life in every possible way.
